12 & 26 Mile Bike Rides

FINALLY A NEW POST!

On Labor Day we took a 12-mile bike ride from Wilton to Norwalk on the Elroy-Sparta Bike Trail through tunnel #2. We rode to and walked through the frist tunnel last year.









Today we finished the Elroy-Sparta bike trail. We rode 26 miles from Norwalk to Sparta and back. We finally made it through tunnel #3 which is 3/4 of a mile long. Everyone has to walk their bike through the tunnel and you hope you have a bike light or flashlight with you. It gets very dark in the tunnel. Tunnel #3 has a lot of dripping water (like it's raining most of the trip through the tunnel). We hope to take a couple of more rides as the fall colors start to appear.

First Bike Ride-2009

Yesterday we ventured out on our bikes for the first bike ride of 2009. We rode 12 miles on the Glacial Drumlin Trail. The last mile is always the hardest and seems like the longest. Of course it didn't help that it was all uphill at the end when you're already tired. It felt good to get out in the beautiful spring weather and see all the flowers along the trail as well as cranes in the water, chipmunks on the trail and lots and lots of bugs. We didn't take our cameras so we have no photos this ride.

Just Walkin' In The Rain

Today was Crazy Legs - a run/walk for UW Athletics. This is our third year walking in Crazy Legs. It started raining just as we were leaving for the race and Ken has already said we weren't going to walk if it was raining. We arrived downtown, in the rain, and headed for the starting line-up. Most of our waiting was spent under the eaves of the buildings to keep from getting too wet. There were over 18,000 people in this run/walk event. Just before starting time the rain quit and we were all excited to get this race underway. A few minutes into the race the rain started again and this time with thunder and lightning joining those raindrops. Well, we were pretty wet by the time we crossed the finish line. We still had to walk back a mile to our car. And the rain continues!

Ken trying to stay dry.


Ann staying dry in her raincoat.


The starting line for the walkers.


The crowd ahead of us.


Two FREE beers for everyone in the race. How healthy is that? Only in Wisconsin!

Tempted

Today I was off work so I decided it would be a good day to spread a delicious scent throughout my house. Chari gave me some Scentsy wickless candle wax that just melts in a ceramic jar. I tried the Sugar Cookie scent and it was so incredibly wonderful smelling that I think I ate half a box of Girl Scout Cookies. I didn't realize that you could be so tempted by a candle wax. Thanks for the wonderful, yummy scents. I'll try to not to be so tempted next time OR I'll just have to hurry and eat all the Girl Scout Cookies before I try that again.

Christmas with the Swensens

Chari, Brian and family arrived on Sunday, December 21st early in the morning. Our church had been cancelled for that day (due to high wind chill and blowing snow) so we just spent a very quiet day while they unwound after a long drive through some miserable weather.

Whitney helping with snow shoveling


After Christmas the kids went sledding/snowboarding at our neighborhood park. They had a great time but it was very cold. We were at around zero degrees with the wind chill making it about 16 below zero.

Christmas Morning


Wisconsin Winter Temperatures


Hillary learning to snowboard


Carter Snowboarding


We visited the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, went bowling at Knuckleheads in Wisconsin Dells and went to a two-hour bounce session in Madison at Bounce U.

The Swensens left to start their trek back home on New Year's Day. We miss them already. It's very, very quiet around here now. We're not sure what to do with ourselves.

Amish Shopping

Today we finally made it to the Amish store. Chari and I tried to go shopping up at the Amish store last Friday. It was so foggy we turned around after about a mile, went shopping at the grocery store and drove home. Today we were late getting to the bakery so we missed the fresh donuts this time. Not that we needed anymore junk food but we love their hot out of the fryer donuts. We were able to get a picture of the Amish buggies on the road.